California Wine Country today features some 2023 SF Chronicle Wine Competition winners, with Mark Klaver who joins Harry Duke, Tom Simoneau and Barry Herbst in the studio. Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger are away this week. Mark Klaver is the Marketing and Sponsorship Director for the San Francisco Chronicle wine competition, which takes place in Cloverdale. Formerly, its name was the Cloverdale Citrus Fair Wine Competition but the Chronicle took it over as a sponsor in […]

Balletto Vineyards winemaker Anthony Beckman is our guest on California Wine Country today, with Dan Berger and Harry Duke. Steve Jaxon is away today. Anthony has been on the show before, the last time was this show in August of 2019. Balletto Vineyards today has more than 800 acres of vines and produces all of its own wine from its own grapes. They were a very successful vegetable farm before deciding to convert to growing grapes. […]

We feature low alcohol wines with Barry Herbst of Bottle Barn and Steve Jaxon, Harry Duke and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. Barry has brought some interesting wines that are not like the usual ones we discuss on this show, as these are low-alcohol and non-alcoholic wines. The first is a Tyler Chardonnay from Lompoc in Santa Barbara County. It reminds Dan Berger of a Chablis, but with interesting aromatics. Low alcohol wines can be […]

Fred Cline and his daughter Hilary Cline from Cline Family Cellars join Steve Jaxon, Harry Duke and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Fred Cline was last on California Wine Country on this episode in 2018. He made his first commercial wine in the early ’80s in Oakley, California, then moved to the Sonoma Carneros area in 1989. But he made wine with his grandfather too. In 1982 he had graduated from UC Davis and purchased […]

Tom Simoneau, co-owner of Simoneau Vineyards is here with his annual Wines of the Year show for 2022, on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon, Harry Duke and Dan Berger. Every year, Tom Simoneau brings us his favorite wines of the year at the end of December. You can hear the episodes for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 here on the CWC website and you can read about the years 2016 and 2015 on Tom’s website. […]

Ross Reedy, VML Wine director of winemaking, joins Steve Jaxon, Harry Duke and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. He is director of winemaking at VML Wines. This is his first time on California Wine Country. They begin tasting their Chardonnay, called Sun. The name VML comes from the name of their founding winemaker Virginia Murray Lambrick, who retired in 2018 and who was Ross Reedy’s mentor. He started there in 2012 “dragging hoses” happily doing […]

Jason Schneider and Lauren Patz join Steve Jaxon, Harry Duke and Dan Berger today on California Wine Country. Lauren Patz runs Redwood Empire Whiskey and Jason is the GM of Bottle Barn, where he is also in charge of the Spirits section. He wants the shop to have all the kinds of spirits that people want in addition to wine. They have also expanded the website, even if they can only ship spirits within the state of California. […]

Alan Baker, co-founder of Cartograph Wines, joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Harry Duke on California Wine Country. He has been a guest on this show a few times, most recently on February 17, 2021. From Radio to Wine (and Back Again) He used to have a career in public broadcasting, 15 years at Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis / St. Paul, doing classical music programming. Wine got his interest during that time after one good […]

Dan Barwick, winemaker at Trecini Winery, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon, Harry Duke and Dan Berger. He has been a guest on this show a few other times, most recently on January 12, 2022, and before that on this episode of July 21, 2021. Harrod’s of London Dan Barwik’s first job was at Harrod’s in London. At the age of 19 he worked in the food halls, starting in the meat department. […]

Mike Kobler, winemaker from Kobler Estate Winery is Tom Simoneau’s guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He tells the story about how his grandparents retired in the 1980s and purchased a 4-acre property in Dry Creek. His grandfather had to travel to South America for a final year of work, while his grandmother studied viticulture at Santa Rosa JC. She also hired Rich Thomas, who was a teacher. They began […]

Oded Shakked, owner and winemaker at Longboard Vineyards, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He was last on the show in 2020 on this episode during the pandemic, when all the guests were calling in on the phone. Previously he was also on the show in 2018 on this episode.  Oded is a surfer so that explains the name Longboard Vineyards.  He has lived, worked and surfed on four continents, […]

Nova Perrill, winemaker for Foppiano Vineyards, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He was on the show back in 2018 on this episode, and again this time in 2019. His last appearance was here, in 2021. Giovanni Foppiano founded Foppiano Vineyards in 1896. It is one of the oldest family-owned wineries in California. Try to imagine, as they do here, how Healdsburg in the 1890s was pure potential. The winery survived […]

Winemaker and consultant Nick Goldschmidt of Goldschmidt Vineyards is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Co-host Harry Duke is back in the studio this week after his cross-country trip. Nick was on CWC on this episode on May 9, 2018. He was back for this episode on Aug. 19, 2020 with three wines named after his daughters, and once more in February of this year for this episode. Goldschmidt Vineyards has […]

Lindsey Otis, owner and winemaker of Lotis Wines, is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. She attended UC Davis for enology and then worked in the southern and northern hemisphere, in order to do two harvests in one calendar year. The she worked for Williams Selyem from 2007 to 2010, then worked for Big Basin Vineyard rising as a winemaker. After making wine for so many other people for so […]

Diane Bucher of Bucher Wines joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Tom Simoneau and Barry Herbst are also in the studio. Diane and John Bucher were also on California Wine Country on this show back on June 13, 2018. Dan Berger has brought another cellar wine into the studio today. A 2020 MacRostie Pinot Noir from Petaluma Gap. It has great structure and great fruit. There is another MacRostie 2016 Pinot Noir, […]

Mari Jones from Emeritus Vineyards is Tom Simoneau’s special guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Mari Jones takes the title President of Fun at Emeritus Vineyards. Bryce Cutrer-Jones in the early ‘90s chose a 115-acre site for Pinot Noir. He sold Sonoma-Cutrer in 1999. Tom Simoneau tells about how Mari’s father was one of the pioneers of Sonoma County Pinot Noir. From the Air Force to Wine Country Mari tells […]